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This week’s set is 6017 King’s Oarsmen.

King’s Oarsmen, a Viking inspired boat, was released in 1987. It is the first very small boat set in the Castle theme. The set features a sail made from flags, two “Oarsmen”, and accessories.

Two soldiers, plenty of weapons, another great army builder. Plus you get a simple, yet still charming, boat.

This was one of my favorite sets when I was a kid (I was 8 when it came out). I had them plying the waters of my blue construction paper moat. I was a sucker for boats back then and still am. There is a simple je ne said quoi charm to these old sets that is, somehow, lacking in the modern set. Or maybe I'm just no longer 8 years old...

This was one of the early sets I received because it was cheap. I didn't pick up the Kings Castle until a few years ago so the dude with the cape ended up being the king. I used to swap out his head for one from the Pirate range to give him a beard to make him stand apart. I kept breaking the clips on the 'sails' though. Neat little set.

I hope I can be forgiven for dredging up an older post, but I haven't stopped by for a while, and this topic really caught my eye. I never owned this set or the Viking ship (#6049), but there's a reason that they stand out in my mind. In 1983 I sent TLG these two photos of a viking ship I built out of space parts and castle men:

A few years later when I noticed these little castle-boat sets on the store shelves, I never could help but think that they adapted my idea for a set. I know it's unreasonable to think that, but surely among the thousand kids who probably sent Lego photos of their builds every year, more than a handful of us were fascinated with vikings, and that had at least some influence on the designers… at least that's what I'll always wonder. The real mystery, though, is that it took Lego over 20 years before it finally came out with a fully fledged Viking theme.